La defensa del dragón (The Dragon Defense)
(2018 Feature Film)

Natalia SANTA | Colombia | 2017 | color | DCP | 80' | Spanish | e.s.

Three Columbian friends discover that even when you’re middle-aged, you are never too old or wise to fail in this feature-film debut with its own style. Everyday reality’s unpredictability ensures that they have to make choices well outside their comfort zone.

In the old city centre of Columbian metropolis Bogotá, three middle-aged friends seek refuge in places that have scarcely changed and offer safety in an uncertain life where loss lurks round every corner. This is why chess player Samuel, a diehard bachelor, mainly plays people he knows he can beat. Homeopath Marcos convinces himself his gambling issues can be solved. And watchmaker Joaquín hopes that by ignoring messages from his landlord he can stay in the studio he took over from his father.

For her understated drama Natalia Santa consciously sought out locations in Bogotá that time forgot, places that exude the history and traditions of the Columbian city. The calm, static shots with plenty of eye for detail and the vintage-looking set design are seamlessly aligned with this concept.

Natalia SANTA (1977, Colombia) studied literature in New York and lived there for some time before returning to her country of birth, where she took on various scriptwriting and production jobs in the Colombian TV industry. The feature film she wrote herself, The Dragon Defense (2017), marks her debut as a director.